Stereoscopic Map of Zion National Park

Hi All,

Today's image was created by Steve and Ben Richardson, father and son stereographers, who I met at the recent NSA convention in Loveland, Colorado. They've produced 3-D atlas books of Salt Lake Valley Tri-Canyon area and Zion National Park, and are working on another of Bryce National Park. Check them out at http://www.2i3d.com. I asked Ben for a little information about what they do to create some of their images, so here's what he provided:

"When we create a cover for a book, we export a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) out of our GIS (Geographic Information System) program as a PGM (Portable Graymap). We then import the PGM file as a model into DAZ Bryce 5.5, which is a 3D modeling program. Then two images are created to place on the model as a texture. One from a topographic map, and the other from aerial photography. The images for the 3D Atlas of Zion National Park were altered to contain an outline of the park boundary, in order to highlight and put focus on the area. Special care is needed to assure that these images align geographically for a perfect drape over the imported model.

After they are each individually placed on the model, multiple low-resolution renders of the scene are made to find the best view to appreciate the scale and beauty of the area. Once the final view of the scene is decided upon, we then make large renders of the scene for a topographic draped model, and then for the photographic draped model.

The two images created are then artfully combined in Photoshop to mix gradually and seamlessly. Each book we create also offers an anaglyph of the cover (like the one provided) on the title page. This is made with as much care and attention to detail as possible, with additional renders of the scene created by moving the camera viewpoint left and then right. The distance between each render is calculated by measuring the amount of distance between the camera and the model."

This image is not a phantogram, but perhaps Steve and Ben will at some time in the future try to render one as such.

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